Defending British GT Champ Switches Teams For Title Defence

Rick Parfitt Jr. will have the opportunity to defend his Avon Tyres British GT Championship GT4 class title this season, though he will do it with 2013 rivals Century Motorsport.

Then driving for Optimum Motorsport Parfitt Jr. and co-driver Ryan Ratcliffe confirmed their title at the final round over Century’s Declan Jones, despite finishing second to Jones in the two hour Donington Park event.

For 2014 Parfitt Jr. moves over to the Nathan Freke’s team, sharing one of the new GT4-spec Ginetta G55 with Tom Oliphant, set to make his British GT debut alongside a Ginetta GT Supercup campaign.

“Last year proved that having a great team mate is key to success in GT4 and in Tom I have a young ambitious driver, who is hungry for success and very quick,” Parfitt Jr. said of his new co-driver. “This added to the fact that he will also be competing in the Ginetta GT4 SuperCup will mean he is practically welded into a G55 seat! We get on very well outside the car also which bodes well for a successful year. The beautiful G55 is a car I’m extremely excited to be in for this season. Hopefully it will be as quick as it looks but our extensive pre-season testing program will ensure we should be perfectly placed for the opening rounds at Oulton Park!”

“It’s a new style of racing for me,” remarked Oliphant, who made two appearances in the Ginetta Supercup last season after a career to date mostly spent in Formula Renault series, “however one that I feel I can get to grips with quickly. We have a very exciting partnership this year with Century Motorsport. Rick has shown his class in the series winning the championship last year so I feel he is the perfect partner to challenge for the championship again. Both Rick and I have winning the championship as our main aim and with the support from Century Motorsport in their new Ginetta G55 GT4 I feel this is a very realistic target.”

Their entry is the latest to a strong and varied looking grid in GT4 for the coming year. Century’s G55 GT4 will join Fox Motorsports’ example on the grid while Twisted Team Parker opt for the older G50 GT4 model. ISSY Racing are set to return the GT4 Lotus Evora to the championship as Declan Jones moves to 2011 GT4 champions ABG Motorsport who will bring the GT4 BMW M3 to the British series for the first time.

GT3 champions Beechdean Motorsport also expand to field a junior squad, VW Racing Cup and Ginetta standouts respectively Ross Wylie and Jake Giddings set to move to British GT in a GT4 Aston Martin Vantage.